Fun Facts About Robert Oppenheimer
- Robert Oppenheimer named his New Mexico ranch Perro Caliente, Spanish for "hot dog", after exclaiming "Hot dog!" when he heard it was available to lease.[1]
- Oppenheimer read the Bhagavad Gita in the original Sanskrit. A 1949 profile said that at the first nuclear test he thought of its verse "Now I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds."[1]
- Oppenheimer said the code name Trinity, for the site of the first nuclear weapon test, came from John Donne's Holy Sonnets.[1]
- Oppenheimer ordered himself a lieutenant colonel's uniform for Los Alamos, then failed the Army physical. Doctors judged him underweight at 128 pounds.[1]
- Visiting Leiden in 1928, Oppenheimer impressed his hosts by lecturing in Dutch with little experience of the language. There he got the nickname Opje, later anglicized as "Oppie."[1]
- In 2022, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm vacated the 1954 revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearance, calling it the result of a flawed process.[1]
- Robert Oppenheimer was alive at the same time as Jules Verne — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1904–1905).[1][2][3][4]
- Robert Oppenheimer shares a birthday with Vladimir Lenin: both were born on April 22.[1][2][5][6]
J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.[1]
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Questions About Robert Oppenheimer
When was Robert Oppenheimer born?
Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904, and died on February 18, 1967.
How old was Robert Oppenheimer at death?
Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904, and died on February 18, 1967, at age 62.
What was Robert Oppenheimer known for?
Robert Oppenheimer was known for: Father of the atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.
Who was alive at the same time as Robert Oppenheimer?
Robert Oppenheimer's closest contemporary was Pablo Picasso. Their lives overlapped for 63 years.
Sources
- J. Robert Oppenheimer — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Robert Oppenheimer (Q132537) — Wikidata
- Jules Verne — Wikipedia
- Jules Verne (Q33977) — Wikidata
- Vladimir Lenin — Wikipedia
- Vladimir Lenin (Q1394) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Oppenheimer (cropped).jpg — Wikimedia Commons. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/558579, Public domain